Ethan and Joel Coen, The Coen Brothers, are well known among fans of modern cult classic films, but it baffles me as to why their names aren’t up there with Spielberg, Tarantino, and other larger than life directors. Granted, the Coen brothers tend to make one movie every couple of years as opposed to the annual pace many directors tend to put up, but the quality of the films they put out should have them considered among the best in the business.
Coen brothers films are known for amazing writing (they write and direct), strong direction with great symbolism, and interesting and strange characters and situations that make each and every one of their films strangely unique and dissimilar to anything else. Like Quentin Tarantino, you know when you’re watching a Coen movie.
From 1987-2001, over those fourteen years the Coen brothers wrote and directed eight movies, every single one of which has become a cult classic, if not a mainstream classic, and all of which score 7.4 stars or higher on the Internet Movie Database web site. This is remarkable, considering only two movies have scored above 9.0 stars (The Godfather and The Shawshank Redemption”, and that many of these films have themes so strange or taboo as to make themselves hard to relate to the mainstream. Think of that as every movie getting a B+ to A+. So the following list is that great “elite eight” run of films, in chronological order.
1987: “Raising Arizona,” 7.5 IMDB rating. Nominated for the 1988 young artist award and best family motion picture, Nicolas Cage stars in this dark and strange comedy along with Holly Hunter and John Goodman. This film is about an ex convict, nicknamed “Hi” and a police photographer Edwina, nicknamed “Ed” who meet after she takes his mug shots during Hi’s many trips through the station. They fall in love, get married, he reforms, and they try to have children, only to find that she’s infertile. Since Hi has a criminal record, they can’t adopt, so after hearing about a local millionaire whose wife has five babies, they decide to kidnap one, leading to a hilarious bungled scene with babies crawling everywhere. Hi tries to abort the mission, but Ed locks the car doors and she refuses to let him in until he has a baby. What follows is a strangely dark, but comic, series of events that includes a psychotic biker “Hi” sees in prophecy ridden dreams, and eventually leads to the return of the baby to a surprisingly sympathetic father.
This film did not initially do well in the theatres, dealing with a lot of dark humor and general strangeness that may have been ahead of its time. Yet this film has become a huge cult classic, and has gained a strong following that has even caused this film to go mainstream. It ranked 31st on the American Film Institute’s study “100 Years . . . 100 Laughs” and is 45th on Bravo’s “100 Funniest Movies” showing that though ahead of its time, fans and critics alike have come to appreciate this surprisingly funny and original work.
1990: “Miller’s Crossing,” 7.9 IMDB rating. This film won several awards on the independent film circuit (though this is true of every movie on this list) and is so strongly thought of film that some Coen fans even compare to Fargo. This is considered one of the strongest and most original of gangster films made in recent years, and in fact made Time Magazine’s list of the top 100 movies made since the magazine’s inception.
The film focuses around Tom Reagan, a smart guy surrounded by complete morons in a world where only muscle counts and brains don’t. He hates his situation, hates his life, and hates himself because he knows he’s all brains and no heart. He tries to redeem this perceived insufficiency through a selfless devotion to Leo, whom he also hates, and eventually he begins to simply play the two warring gangs against one another.
The acting is great in this film, and as with many Coen Brothers films, John Turturro and Steve Buscemi each appear in strange but intriguing roles. They aren’t the only ones that fulfill their roles, however. The acting is great all the way through: Marcia Gay Harden as the hard-boiled moll, Jon Polito as the maniacal Johnny Caspar, J.E. Freeman, who is such an effective villain that you wonder how he hasn’t made it, and Albert Finney are all strong presences on the screen and work together to make an unforgettable film.
This film doesn’t have the dark humor that many of the other Coen films have, but the Coen brothers have proven with an eclectic mix of good films that you can never be quite sure what to expect out of them. This is a great gangster film that demands more than one viewing to fully appreciate.
1991: “Barton Fink,” 7.6 IMDB rating. This film was nominated for three Oscars, cleaned up the awards at the Cannes Film festival, including being the first film to unanimously win the Golden Palm award. This is a fabulous film that is completely immersed in a brooding, dark, dilapidated atmosphere that draws the viewer in to the ugly, clammy, off-setting world that Barton Fink finds himself in. This film is thick in atmosphere, and follows Barton Fink, a successful screenwriter about emotional, “artsy” pieces who gets stuck at a job trying to write a B movie wrestling script and ending up with tremendous writer’s block. His neighbor, played by John Goodman, is a very strange neighbor who appears really friendly . . . and turns out to be a wanted serial killer.
Barton Fink meets a screenwriter he once admired, only to learn to loathe him when he discovers how the man treats his mistress, Audrey, who Barton also finds out most likely ghost wrote all the work the man took credit for. Audrey and Barton eventually sleep together, but he wakes up with her dead in a huge pool of blood. Then things start getting kind of weird. This is a movie that some viewers are going to love, and the average film watcher may hate. This film is dark, strange, scary, and often just downright disturbing. If you thought John Goodman was scary in “Fallen,” you haven’t seen anything until you see this film.
Beyond even the atmosphere and the incredible performances of the actors and actresses in this strange film are the larger questions that this film tackles in unconventional ways. This work has a deep insight into the sadness of the creative spirit, a real gritty feel despite an almost fable like set up to the story, and despite not being a comedy, some dark moments that are so tragic as to be hilarious. This film shuns any underlying ethics or moral lesson. There is no absolute right or wrong, evil can be good, good can be evil, and every scene ends with the feeling that everything is open and anything can happen. The last twenty minutes especially just exude the power of film. Towards the end you expect the movie to end with every powerful scene, and are stunned when not only does the movie not end, but each scene increases the strength, depth, and impact of the movie.
This is one of those rare films that can leave you numb, stunned, and in emotional turmoil, even as your hand reaches for the control to play one more time.
1994: “The Hudsucker Proxy,” 7.4 IMDB rating. This was the first big budget film that the Coen brothers shot, and it almost killed their career. This might seem strange, especially since “The Hudsucker Proxy” is now a cult film with a strong following. “The Hudsucker Proxy” is an excellent satire that combines subtle but hilarious satiric humor with an occasional mix with shtick. With an official budget of $20 million, but a rumored $40 million spent, the movie won some awards from British film critics in the independent circuit, before bombing in main stream theatres, barely grossing $3 million.
Still, this is a hilarious movie that absolutely satirizes the business world and older styles of movie making, which is part of the reason that despite the theatre failure, video sales did well because of word of mouth. In “The Hudsucker Proxy,” Norville, played by Tim Robins, is looking for a new job, but all the jobs require experience, and he can’t find a job without experience. The board is looking for a fall guy as President in order to drive the stock price down and buy a controlling share before firing him. This begins to work, as Norville does not appear to be the sharpest knife, but his invention of the hula hoop goes from flop to wildly successful, forcing Sidney Mussburger (Paul Newman) to come up with a larger scheme to set up Norville and drive him to suicide.
“The Hudsucker Proxy” makes fun of itself, and many other films, by using blatant dues ex machina as a way of slamming itself and other movies, something that many film viewers dismissed as amateur, whereas they intended it as a satire. Though in records as a flop, this is an excellent and strongly underrated film that has achieved cult status as a one of a kind humorous satire.
1996: “Fargo,” 8.2 IMDB rating, #111 of top 250 movies of all time. Fargo won two Oscars, in addition to another 52 award wins, not to mention 30 further nominations and #84 on the American Film Institute’s top 100 films and #93 on the list of “100 Years, 100 Laughs” list. Fargo” is the most famous of the Coen Brothers movies, and it is incredible-after directly following the flopping of “The Hudsucker Proxy,” “Fargo” was a low budget independent film that was a gigantic commercial success.
Fargo is an incredible film, and deserves every award it has won. This movie is a crime drama involving a set up kidnapping that goes horribly wrong, leaving the husband of the dead wife, the one who set up the fake kidnapping, dealing with two really dark murderers who are now threatening him. The seriousness of this plot is offset constantly by hilarious and ironic quirks that bring moments of hilarity and humor into the story, making the darker parts funnier and the funnier parts darker in a very masterful collaboration. Having everyone except the killers stuck in a Midwestern culture makes it so everyone speaks cheerfully and won’t swear, except for them since they are the only outsiders. This effect is incredible, separating viewers from incredibly dark moments just enough to keep them from walking away because the film is too dark, and making moments that shouldn’t be funny gut splittingly hilarious-you’ll never look at a wood chipper the same way again.
This script is one of the most complete plots of a Coen film, filled with seeming asides that always help to fill in more information about the characters and always become important later. The characters are well defined with their own independent quirks, and when was the last time you saw a movie where the hero is a super pregnant police officer from a small town who won’t even swear when she sees a witness fleeing from her during an interrogation?
One of the strong points of any Coen Brothers film is direction, and this film is the best of the best among their collection. The combination of story, acting, and directing has led to a masterpiece that should be a mandatory view for any student taking a film class or anyone who considers themselves a true film fan.
1998: “The Big Lebowski,” 8.1 IMDB rating, #175 of top 250 movies of all time. Out of many eclectic, strange, and riddle-like films, “The Big Lebowski” is perhaps the most enigmatic and strange of all of the Coen movies-and any Coen Brother fan can tell you that is saying something. I was first introduced to this movie as a college student, with the immediate warning, “You’ll have to watch it more than once to fully appreciate it.” This piece of advice turned out to be true, as the first time I felt it was a fun movie, the second time I was impressed by the acting, the camera work, and the strange way the plot was tied together, and by the third time watching, I was convinced this movie was genius.
“The Big Lebowski,” is a hilarious and smart film that uses some stylish direction and a strange post modern way. This makes the film constantly interesting, since the movie ebbs and flows, and constantly moves in ways that you’re not expecting. This is an incredibly original film. There is nothing out there to compare this to. Jeff Bridges is great as “The Dude,” creating a persona copied by thousands of college students who originally brought this film to cult status. Sam Elliot is fantastic as the omniscient narrator, who turns out to be a cowboy drinking root beer at the bowling alley bar. Long time Coen favorites such as Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, and John Turturro are all here for this film, with some of the most memorable characters in a modern movie. Goodman is a Nam vet who says he’s Jewish, but is Polish Catholic, Tara Reid is in one of her early roles as a spoiled trophy wife, and this movie brought the term “nihilist” back into the mainstream, and sky-rocketed the popularity of the “White Russian” drink.
Intense dream sequences, incredible writing, expert direction, and a wide range of set designs, costumes, and settings create an atmosphere in this movie that makes it wonderfully and uniquely its own. The scenes are great, from Walter (Goodman) convincing himself that the rich Mr. Lebowski is not a cripple, to the final fight with the Nihilists outside of the bowling alley, to Jesus’s uncomfortable diatribe, to the most inappropriate eulogy in any movie ever-this movie is full of unforgettable scenes, and quotes that are don’t sound like much out of context, but become legendary movie quotes in these scenes (“That rug really brought the room together”). The soundtrack is also absolutely amazing, hitting the classics like Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, and Creedence Clearwater Revival, as well as cult favorites such as Moondog, Esquivel, and Captain Beefheart. These songs are used with skill throughout the film.
This is a great film, and one of the most original movies made in years. It is smart, funny, and well put together and should be a favorite among film lovers.
2000: “O Brother Where Art Thou?” 7.8 IMDB rating. This film was nominated for two Oscars, was nominated for 28 other awards and won six-including a Grammy for best soundtrack. This film is loosely based on Homer’s epic “The Odyssey,” if the hero was a down on his luck schmuck in 1937 Mississippi. Everett Ulysses McGill (George Clooney) convinces his two partners on the chain gang, Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) and Pete (John Turturro). While escaping they run into a blind prophet on a railroad, who tells them about the great things they will see on their journey, not of all which makes sense (“You will see . . . a cow on the roof of a cotton shed”).
Everett convinces the others to run by promising to split the buried loot from a ban heist he pulled off, but he says it’s buried in an area that is going to be dammed up for a reservoir, so they have to recover the money to start new lives before this happens. The group runs into one weird group after another, including infamous bank robber George “Babyface” Nelson, who stops to pick them up in the middle of a police pursuit, a “Cyclops” disguised as a one eyed Bible salesman, a four time Governor, a KKK lynch mob, a guitarist who sold his soul to the devil, three sexy sirens with powerful moonshine, and even the devil himself.
The journey is amazing and hilarious, and while they start out as just cellmates, their loyalty is trusted and they end as friends. This is a clever movie with sharp witty dialogue, the perfect three personalities among the convicts to clash with one another, and even the “dumb” humor is delivered in a really clever way (“She’s not here no more-she R-U-N-N-O-F-T”). This movie is classic Coen Brothers: smart, strange, easy to follow but original, offering a unique movie experience that leaves most viewers satisfied.
This film has an outstanding Grammy winning soundtrack, maybe the best writing of any Coen Brothers movie, and the perfect cast to pull this great story together. This was a large budget movie that was instantly popular among the mainstream, proving that the Coen Brothers could translate to a large audience-something legions of their fans from previous cult classic hits had no doubt of. This is a fantastic film that is a great introduction into the films of the Coen Brothers.
2001: “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” 7.7 IMDB rating. This movie was nominated for an Oscar, won 18 other awards, and 27 nominations. This movie was shot in black and white, and is exceptional in its research with the lighting, camera work, and details reminiscent of a 1950s film, making it easy to believe this movie is a full fifty years older than it actually is. This film stars Billy Bob Thorton, and involves a very soft spoken barber who never seems to react no matter what. When he finally believes he has his chance, he blackmails his wife’s boss, whom she’s sleeping with, and everything goes deeply film noir from that point on out, peppered with many odd references to UFOs that help make this film even stranger while breaking up the darkness of the film a little bit, without interrupting the flow so badly to be completely irrelevant.
This is a very different film from what most people might expect out of the Coen Brothers, featuring a lot of the darkness of “Fargo” without as much of the humor to make the oppressiveness easier to deal with. This movie is incredibly film noir, classic in that the main character, though not sinless, often finds himself screwed over by chance and the universe itself over incidents he had nothing to do with. There is an undercut of humor, but this is a classic version of modern noir that is well shot and brilliantly executed. This movie shows the wide range of the Coen Brothers’ talents to make any type of film.
Overview: The Coen Brothers are among the best writers and directors out there. This incredible series of movies strongly suggests that the future will be equally bright, and long time favorite actors John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, and John Turturro all have great careers and reputations that were in strong part helped by all their roles in various Coen films, only helping to further the cause. The Coens have long been favorites of film fans and have a wide array of cult classics, but few directors in history have had such a great run of films, and these two deserve to receive the recognition for their skills as being some of the best in the business.
List of Sources:
Coen Brothers Movie Ratings http://www.imdb.com
The Big Lebowski
Miller’s Crossing
The Man Who Wasn’t There
Fargo
Raising Arizona
O Brother Where Art Thou
The Hudsucker Proxy
Barton Fink
